“As part of the ceremony, we drop the pipe and draw seawater at Polloc Port and allowed the machine to process it and we drink it. No traces of salinity or the familiar smell of the sea. It’s definitely potable.”
— Minister Naguib G. Sinarimbo
- By EDD K. USMAN
Twitter: @edd1819, Instagram: @bluestar0910, Facebook: SDN — Science, Digital & Current Affairs
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(SDN) — Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Balawag “Al-Hajj Murad” Ebrahim has formally launched a project that will draw water from the sea and transform the salty liquid into potable water.
The project under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is called the Desalination Project for Waterless Communities that will benefit the region’s island communities.
The island provinces of the BARMM are Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi in Region IX (Western Mindanao) while the mainland component provinces are Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao in Central Mindanao.
Minister Naguib G. Sinarimbo, head of the Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MILG) of the regional government said Ebrahim led the ceremony for the project that will tap seawater for the island communities.
He said Sulu is the pioneer beneficiary of the water desalination undertaking.
Read also: Waterworld: Bangsamoro Gov’t Initiates Php430-M Water Projects for Sulu, Lanao del Sur
The launch was held at the Polloc Port in Maguindanao. The MILG chief waxed confidence at the project equipment’s usefulness as described.
“As part of the ceremony, we drop the pipe and draw seawater at Polloc Port and allowed the machine to process it and we drink it. No traces of salinity or the familiar smell of the sea. It’s definitely potable,” Sinarimbo assured.
Read also: Waterworld: Bangsamoro Gov’t Initiates Php430-M Water Projects for Sulu, Lanao del Sur
He said the first set of the equipment will be installed and benefit three of Sulu’s island municipalities, such as Panglima Tahil, Pandami, and Pata.
“These municipalities since time immemorial have no potable water. Extensive drilling to find potable water has failed. So, this is the first time that these municipalities will actually have potable water at their doorsteps, quite literally,” the MILG minister pointed out.
He said the project is part of the Bangsamoro Government’s program designed to make the region’s residents feel immediately the care and attention from the regional government.
It can be recalled the MILG signed an agreement recently with an American company called Water Equipment Technologies with an apt acronym WET for the delivery, installation, and operationalization of desalination machines and apparatuses for the above-mentioned Sulu municipalities.
Basilan and Tawi-Tawi to get similar project
Sinarimbo and WET’s Donna Faizo signed three separate agreements for the Sulu water projects.
Faizo said the United States-based company has a long history of doing business in the Philippines bringing services of water projects installation, operation, and maintenance of their projects in Davao City, Batangas, and Laguna.
She assured of the capabilities of their facilities in desalination of salt water with 99 percent efficiency to turn it into a potable water fit for human consumption.
Through the MILG, drawing funds from the Office of the Chief Minister’s contingency funds for community development programs, the regional government allocated Php30 million for the Sulu Municipal Water Projects in the three water-challenged towns.
The desalination machines as it is are expected to convert 10,000 liters a day of salt water for domestic use post-desalination.
Its by-product will then be further purified into potable water.
Sinarimbo said other communities in Basilan and Tawi-Tawi will also receive their Municipal Water Projects of Saltwater Desalination Facilities. (✓)